Bruno Gruber's head is full of ideas.
In the past 33 years, the Olchinger has registered around 600 patents.
A look into his inventor's workshop - where he not only tinkers with 6000 beer coasters, but there are also all sorts of curiosities to see.
Bruno Gruber from Olching started his own business as an inventor 33 years ago.
and since then over 600 patents have been registered.
Every day he tinkers with new practical, unusual and sometimes strange developments in his workshop.
The 79-year-old has even set a world record with an invention.
Olching
- Bruno Gruber hangs on the ceiling amid shelves full of tools, cables, screws and devices.
He's holding onto a hook, his feet a few inches off the ground.
Nothing wobbles - thanks to the small red dowel with which the hook is attached.
"He can withstand 160 kilos," says the 79-year-old after doing gymnastics.
He is the inventor, the Bavarian Daniel Düsentrieb so to speak - and the special dowel is his development.
Its advantage: “The craftsman has to drill a much smaller hole.” Practical when tiles are not to be drilled.
The only problem: you can't buy the dowel.
Although Gruber sold his patent to a company, the dowel is not produced.
“It happens again and again that companies buy patents and then shut them down,” says Gruber.
Of course it's a shame - but that's the life of an inventor.
Gruber is a trained radio and television mechanic.
He has already worked in Australia and New Zealand and set up as an inventor in Olching (Fürstenfeldbruck district) 33 years ago.
A fly scale, scented television, a cup that cannot fall over, or a system for oxygenating water - all his ideas.
Just like the glove with a vacuum cleaner connection.
"Dogs and cats can be petted and depilated at the same time," he explains, "and you can also use it to clean the car."
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When you touch the antibacterial door handle, your hands are disinfected at the same time.
© Peter Weber
He has registered around 600 patents, around 50 to 60 are still valid, he estimates.
He pays many thousands of euros for them every year - and more inventions are added every year.
Its latest?
Gruber shows a wide ballpoint pen and a box of postcards.
Everything made from compostable material.
“The material can also be used for packaging,” he explains.
How did he come up with it?
“After a fire, beer mats on pallets should be thrown away in a beverage store,” he says.
Gruber packed his car full of 6,000 beer coasters and pondered.
He experimented, soaking the coasters in sugar water - and then he had the idea.
You can't just rely on one thing and an invention has to fit in with the times.
Bruno Gruber
The Olchinger hopes to find a company that will take over.
But that's difficult: "Large corporations have their own development departments," he says.
“And many managing directors are not interested if you introduce them to something new.” One thing is important: “You can't just rely on one thing.” And: “An invention has to fit in with the times.”
Maybe now is the time for the antibacterial door handle.
An attachment with holes is pushed over the normal doorknob - and inside is a sponge soaked in disinfectant.
Hands are disinfected when touched.
“That would be a good thing for hospitals,” he says.
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A hat that allows you to breathe filtered air is one of Gruber's inventions.
© Peter Weber
Speaking of hygiene.
Bruno Gruber immediately puts on his blue hat.
“It looks good,” he says, grinning and stuck the hose attached to the hat in front of his nose.
“There's a filter in the hat,” he explains.
“You breathe filtered air through the hose.
The craftsman does not inhale any dust. "
The smallest blooming sunflower in the world
Gruber even set a world record with his inventions.
He grew the smallest sunflower.
“It was in full bloom and only eight centimeters tall,” he says.
It shows a shelf with plants - all in miniature format.
The trick: the roots grow in a sieve.
“The mini plants were already on the market,” he says.
Aside from the fact that they are decorative, the 79-year-old also sees further potential: “I have grown the smallest potatoes,” he reports.
“In theory, they could be used as seed potatoes.
Once humans colonized Mars, a thousand times as many could be transported as with normal potatoes. "
He doesn't mind that colonization on Mars is not going to happen so quickly.
Gruber is a man with great visions.
For example from the fabulous disappeared island of Atlantis.
The 79-year-old suspects that there are remains in a lake in Guatemala.
One teacher's research would suggest it, he explains.
At the beginning of the 2000s he wanted to look for proof with the teacher.
“I thought about how to go down the lake with dry feet,” he says.
His idea was to build a kind of tower out of concrete rings in which the water is sucked off.
“A construction company actually wanted to do it,” he says.
"But then the teacher died." And that meant the end of the project.
But the good thing is: Bruno Gruber has several files full of other ideas.
“I have ideas for the next 1,000 years,” he says.